Hannah and Maggie: Cute Lesbians, Good Music

Sebastian’s Team Pick

So I heard y’all might be into some adorable queer ladies that make good music. Lucky for you, I have a soft spot in my heart (ears?) for this genre of music. (Have I mentioned I’ve seen Dar Williams in concert three times and just bought tickets for another show in December? I call it my “lesbian cred.”) I actually ran this by Crystal, Autostraddle’s fabulous Music Editor, first because I was sort of worried that it was too predictable to show you guys an acoustic singer/songwriter duo of lezzies in their early 20s, but the reality is that Hannah & Maggie are so much better than the typical vaginarock that floats around lesbian circles (listen don’t deny it – I spent 6 years in lesbian circles!) And also really, really cute.

Can we just look at this cover Maggie did of Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear?

CASE IN POINT.

But here I’ll give you even more evidence of their talent and cuteness. They did this cover of “Home” by Edward Sharpe when they were on different continents! And I am in awe of Hannah’s voice on this one.

I think what really sets them apart from the hoards of other talented chicks covering songs on youtube is their original music. They flew out to California this year to record their debut album, Fine Being Here, which you can stream in its entirety on soundcloud. I think “Warm Again” is my favorite.

They’re doing a lil bar/cafe tour in New England this month and I’ll hopefully be at a couple of the stops (full disclosure: Maggie is a close pal and I have platonic marriage intentions). So read their bio below, check out their incredibly well-designed website (I seriously cannot stand ugly sites), buy their album even, and maybe I’ll catch you at a show!

“Hannah & Maggie are an acoustic folk-pop duo with a pronounced fondness for seltzer, cinnamon, chapstick, and things made of cloth. The two began playing together in 2009 and within a year had released their debut album, Fine Being Here. They will embark on their very first tour on August 19th, trekking through the northeast and stopping to make friends along the way. Their last show is on September 1st where they will open for Danielle Ate The Sandwich. After touring they plan to resume their normal lives and begin recording their second album, already well in the works. Maggie will be starting her fourth and final year at Smith College where she studies literature and parallel parking. Hannah has just moved to Manhattan where she spends her days furnishing her apartment with money she doesn’t have.”

Wow- small world. I went to high school with Hannah, and we were involved in drama productions. I saw this link on her Facebook (which I did a double take at first because I thought it was AS’s FB. Long story short, Hannah has always been an amazing talent, and she’s one of the sweetest people ever.

I googled. I was wrong! Which is sort of world changing to 16 year old me:

The answer is that she’s straight, and isn’t sure how a weekly magazine in Toronto ended up quoting her in September 2000 saying that she is bisexual (a report cited by the Blade the following month). But she makes no secret about the fact that for a long time, she kept her music and her on-stage stories pronoun-neutral so that all of her fans would be able to relate to what she was saying and singing.

“I never said I was bisexual,” she says. “I kind of feel like the cat’s out of the bag. I stayed ambiguous really for the sake of solidarity, which I think was a good thing. I wanted my songs to be able to permeate all orientations and I thought that by not saying what my orientation was, that it would allow more people to identify with the songs.”

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